Solids and Liquids

This kit is all about making good observations about the properties of solids and liquids. These are the two key concepts for the students to learn.
- Making good observations means finding the basic properties of an object or substance. Thus, if students see a clear colorless liquid:
  - Bad observation: "It looks like water" (or even worse: "It is water")
  - Good observations: "It is transparent," "It is colorless", "It is a liquid", etc.
Students learn how the properties of objects can make them useful for building, separating, etc.
Simple definitions of the three states of matter:
- Solid: has a definite shape, although it may be flexible.
- Liquid: Can be poured, fills its container from the bottom up, has a level surface when still.
- Gas: Fills its container completely; expands or contracts to fill its container, can only be contained in a closed container.
General Advice for the kit:
- The kit presents many investigations as learning center activities. Usually when the fellows teach these lessons, we teach them as a whole class. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. For larger classes, there may not be enough materials for all the students. However, with a learning center, the teacher will probably need an aide to work the center while he/she leads the rest of the class in another lesson, and will need to train the aide in how to lead inquiry-based science.
- Students at this age are very suggestible; that is, if you demonstrate one way (of many) of doing something, they will pick up on this. They will tend to copy you instead of coming up with their own ideas. To encourage open-endedness, keep pre-activity demonstrations to a minimum.

Restocking Notes

Bottles filled with liquid can (and should) be saved for reuse. This will reduce the frequency with which the liquids must be purchased, in addition eliminating the time required for filling and cleaning them. If possible, they should also be left bagged in sets that include one of each bottle.

Possible Lesson Plan

Kits tend to have more lessons than we have time to get through. Some lessons can be combined with others, or omitted entirely. Here is where we can suggest the 10 or so lessons for fellows to get through.
- Day 1: Investigation 1.1
- Day 2: Investigations 1.2 and 1.3
- Day 3: Investigation 1.3 Extension: Build a Paper Bridge
- Day 4: Investigation 2.1
- (Omit Investigation 2.2)
- Day 5: Investigation 2.3
- Day 6: Investigation 3.1 (and maybe 3.3)
- Day 7: Investigation 3.2
- (Omit Investigation 3.4)
- Day 8: Investigation 4.1
- Day 9: Investigation 4.2
- Day 10: Investigation 4.3

Lessons

Investigation 1: Solids

Typical Duration: 45+ minutes

Overview: Students study seven different solids and make observations about their properties.
- Observation: what do you notice about this object?
  - Use 4 of the 5 senses (all but taste).
- Property: something that describes the object, or something it can do.
- With the bag demo at the beginning, students are introduced to the difference between a solid, a liquid, and a gas.
  - Solid: Has a shape, cannot be poured
  - Liquid: Needs a container, can be poured, fills up and takes the shape of its container, has a flat surface when still, etc.
  - Gas: Entirely fills its container.
    - Ask students "Is a gas something or nothing? It may initially be difficult for them to answer this question. Then, show them the air-filled bag and the empty bag (or a full balloon and an empty balloon). Because the bag or balloon is inflated, the students can understand that you have put something (= air) in the balloon that makes it inflate.
Preparation
- Demo: 4 plastic ziplock bags, containing:
  - A rock
  - Water (about 1/3 full)
  - Air (zip the bag nearly closed, blow into it to inflate it, and then zip it closed.
  - Nothing (a flat, deflated bag).
- Activity:
  - Organize the first set of solids together, and the second set of solids together.
  - The teacher's guide says to go ahead and divide up the solids before class. However, it might be easier to just hand a student a bag of solids and have them place one on each student's desk. This works for picking them up at the end, too. That will save you some prep time.
Advice
- Students can easily tell that a rigid object is a solid. They have a harder time with flexible objects, like the cloth and the piece of tubing. After some discussion, ensure them that these are indeed solids.
- Have the teacher write down a list of property words as you go along. Post this list for the students to refer to in Lesson 1.2.
- When filling out the Properties of Solid Objects worksheet, it is easiest for the students to work down the sheet, not across. This way they hold a single object in their hands and decide which of the listed properties it has (as opposed to looking through the objects for things which have a certain property). Also, remember that this may be their first time filling out a table.
- Solids Vocabulary (note: it is not necessary to cover all of these):
  - Smooth
  - Rough
  - Flexible
  - Rigid
  - Transparent
  - Translucent
  - Opaque
Demo ideas
Media Clips and Links
Extensions
- Other useful additions to this lesson.

Investigation 1.2: Sort Solid Objects

Typical Duration: 30-45 minutes

Overview: Students play a sorting game based on the properties of their solids.
- Working in pairs is best.
Preparation
- See Investigation 1.1.
Advice
- If you feel the students already understand what a property is after Investigation 1.1, you may want to breeze through this lesson. If you have an hour, you can do the sorting game for 30 minutes and then do part 1.3 for 30 minutes.
- Post the list of properties somewhere so the students can use it when coming up with ideas for the sorting game.
- The Sorting Circle handout isn't really necessary. Students can just put the objects next to each other on the table or in their hands.
Demo ideas
Media Clips and Links
Extensions
- Other useful additions to this lesson.

Investigation 1.3: Construct with Solids

Typical Duration: 30-45 minutes

Overview: Students use solid objects to construct a tower. Students learn how the properties of an object affect how it can be used to build something.
- Working in pairs is best.
Preparation
- See Investigation 1.1.
Advice
- By the end of the activity, the students should be able to answer the question "What property of (object) makes it good for (part of the tower)?" This can often be difficult for kids of this age. To lead them to this, ask things like:
  - Which object makes a good base for the tower? What property makes it a good base?
  - When you used the wood cylinder, did you lay it on the round side or the flat side? Why?
- For consumable objects (aluminum foil, cup, straw, cardboard), the students can cut, tear, or otherwise change them. However, when telling them this, be careful not to give them too much guidance (i.e. don't tell them they can poke a hole in the cup for the straw).
Demo ideas
Media Clips and Links
- Powerpoint Slideshow on Towers (by Ginny)
  Engineers and Towers v2.ppt
  - Details
  - Download
  - 3 MB
Extensions
- Build A Paper Bridge: Students use a piece of paper to make a bridge. They test the bridge's strength with a cup of weights.
  - Weights are not provided. Teachers often have small plastic blocks or counting pieces which can be used as weights. Just be sure that the weights are all the same.
  - At first, allow the students to change the paper in any way they want. However, they will probably not figure out how to fold it accordion-style, as shown in the teacher's guide. After a while, you can give them this idea.
    - Some of the students will have a hard time understanding how to fold the paper accordion-style. Others may understand, but may have poor motor skills. Be prepared to talk them through it.
  - Don't Demonstrate folding the paper in any way at first. It is okay to talk about the idea of folding the paper to make a better bridge, but if you actually show them one way to fold it, they will often pick up on that and may only try to fold it the way you did.

Investigation 2.1: Liquids in Bottles

Typical Duration: 45 minutes

Overview: Students begin to investigate the properties of liquids.
- Students are given bottles of seven different liquids.
Preparation
- Decide whether to teach this lesson as a learning center or as a whole class. If as a learning center, you may want an aide to help, and you will need to have something else prepared for the rest of the students.
- Prepare 5 (or more) bottles of each liquid:
  - Water
  - Corn Syrup
  - Cooking Oil
  - Liquid Dish Detergent
  - Liquid Hand Soap
  - Liquid Starch
  - Colored Water (try to match the color of the detergent, if possible)
- Note that these liquids are NOT PROVIDED in the kit. You may need to purchase them yourself.
- Fill the bottles about halfway full. Try to put the same volume in each bottle, so the liquid levels are the same.
- If the kit has been used before, the bottles of liquids may already be prepared.
Advice
- The kit presents this investigation as a learning center activity. Usually when the fellows teach this, we teach it as a whole class. Whichever method is up to the teacher, but remember that if it is taught at a learning center, the teacher will probably need an aide to work the center while he/she leads the rest of the class in another lesson.
- Allow the students to investigate the liquids without giving them any suggestions at first. Once they begin to get bored, use the list of questions at the bottom of page 13 to suggest more things they can try.
Demo ideas
Media Clips and Links
Extensions
- Other useful additions to this lesson.

Investigation 2.2: Properties of Liquids

Typical Duration: 45 minutes

Overview: Students describe properties of liquids, and use a vocabulary card game to learn vocabulary.
- NOTE: This lesson is not very hands-on, and may be omitted. If so, be sure to cover liquids vocabulary in Inv. 2.1.
Preparation
- Copy sheet #6, Labels for Card Decks and cut out the labels. Tape each label to a 1 liter ziplock bag.

Advice
- Liquids Vocabulary
  - Viscous
Demo ideas
Media Clips and Links
Extensions
- Other useful additions to this lesson.

Investigation 2.3: Liquid Level

Typical Duration: 45 minutes

Overview: Students study how the level of a liquid changes as its container changes.
- Students study a bottle of water as it is tipped, recording where the water line is at each stage.
- Students find out how a specific amount of water fills different-shaped containers.
Preparation
- A quick, bulleted list of the things you will have to have prepared before yo u teach the lesson, along with any hints for their preparation.
Advice
- For the first activity, use the bottles of colored water. This makes it easier for the students to see the liquid level. Also, they can color in their pictures of the water.
- For the second activity, use tap water, because spills are more likely with the open containers.
- One of the key points is that no matter what container it's in, the water level is always horizontal ("straight across") when still. This is an important property of liquids.
Demo ideas
Media Clips and Links
Extensions
- Other useful additions to this lesson.